Saturday, July 18, 2015

New York times part II: A Trainwreck and a whirlwind

I have not
written much in this space over the last couple of weeks, but it has not been
for lack of material. I do not do much aside from go to work and attend films, and
the last week and a half or so has seen a tremendous amount of both activities,
such as they are. Here is a rough sketch of the last 11 days:

July 7 – Martin
Scorsese exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art and a screening of Carol Reed’s
classic The Third Man (read about
that here)

July 8 – A
screening of the new documentary Stray
Dog and a Q and A with director Debra Granik and producer Victoria Stewart

July 9 – A
preview screening of Sundance hit Tangerine
with a Q and A with the director, cast, and crew

July 13 – An
hour-long talk with Parker Posey about her experience in the independent film
world and her work in the new Woody Allen film Irrational Man

July 14 – World
premiere of Judd Apatow’s Trainwreck,
as well as the bacchanal of an afterparty

July 16 –
Screening of Matthew Heineman’s Mexican drug war documentary Cartel Land with a post-screening Q and
A with the director

I intend to
write about each and every one of these events, and I am behind on some of my
newer film reviews – briefly, see Dope,
which is fantastic; skip Me and Early and
the Dying Girl, which is overly self-aware; see Amy, a fascinating documentary about the pitfalls of celebrity and
stardom. But since I have no idea when I will even be able to transcribe all my
interviews, let alone write thoughtful pieces about these experiences, I
thought I would briefly touch on them here. Think of this as a teaser of things
to come.

Stray Dog

Granik is known
mostly for her Oscar-nominated second feature Winter’s Bone, which helped establish Jennifer Lawrence as a star
even before the Hunger Games films.
Though I was not a huge fan, Winter’s
Bone is well worth seeing for its stark, unflinching depiction of rural
drug culture and its effect on innocent bystanders, as well as for a knockout
leading performance by Lawrence.

For the
documentary Stray Dog, Granik returns
to the Ozarks and takes as her subject Ronnie Hall, who played one of the more
intimidating figures in Winter’s Bone.
Hall is a biker, Vietnam veteran, and all-around sweetheart. Where I felt Winter’s Bone in places had a
dehumanizing effect on the inhabitants of this southern mountainous region, Stray Dog works to correct that.

This is a
compassionate portrait of a man who was tortured by anger and depression over
the things he did as a soldier but who overcomes his challenges by giving and
receiving love as much as he can. The film covers everything we expect from
movies about veterans – family, duty, honor, loyalty, pride, etc. – but does so
with such a light touch it never comes across as manipulative or insincere. It
is a beautiful film and easily the best documentary I have seen so far this
year.

Tangerine

Tangerine, from writer-director Sean Baker, is a curious
case, presenting as it does the lives of two transgender prostitutes, their
pimp, and a cab driver in their orbit all on one eventful Christmas Eve in Los
Angeles. The story covers territory rarely seen in cinema and feels resolutely
real; however, from a filmmaking standpoint, this is a hard movie to love.

Baker casts
non-professionals as his transgender leads – Kitana Kiki Rodriguez and Mya
Taylor – and shoots the entire film on an iPhone5. As a result, there is
something distinctly amateurish about the early proceedings, particularly as
the iPhone camera does a poor job of capturing daylight. Once you get into the
evening hours and you get on the wavelength of the performances, things start
to coalesce.

The film has
been hailed as a credit to independent filmmaking, and it is certainly that,
but I am unsure of whether that is a positive credit. It is a fair question to
ask whether this is the film that should represent independent films on the
larger stage, but I appreciate the spirit and intention of Tangerine, perhaps more than the execution.

Parker Posey

Speaking of
independent film, Posey was once known as the Queen of the Indies, and she
spent a solid hour Monday discussing her lengthy career in a
question-and-answer session at the Film Society of Lincoln Center. She was
there ostensibly to talk about Allen’s Irrational
Man, which opened Friday, but since no one had yet seen the film, the
conversation was more about Posey’s place in the Hollywood machine – that is to
say, her place standing just outside the machine.

Posey has done
big budget. The films are usually bad – Superman
Returns, Josie and the Pussycats,
Blade: Trinity – but invariably,
Posey is the best thing about them. Her home obviously is in the independent
world, and her collaborations with Christopher Guest are legend. When the
audience could ask questions, the first place it went was to Best in Show and what working with Guest
is like, despite the fact he has not made a feature film since 2006.

Bubbly and
ethereal, Posey answered questions willingly, if circuitously, and was not
short on stories to illuminate a life spent making movies. She was intelligent,
funny, and self-deprecating, a perfect Allen heroine, which he seems to think,
too, as it was announced Friday that Posey has joined the cast of Allen’s next
as-yet-untitled film. Allen is my favorite director, and the next film could be
great, but I would still say there is a good chance Posey will be one of the
best things about it.

Trainwreck

A little
birthday present to myself, my partner in life and crime and I got all dolled
up in our nicest fineries Tuesday and attended an old-fashioned movie premiere –
and that will be the last time I use the phrase “old fashioned” to describe
anything regarding Apatow and writer-producer-star Amy Schumer’s wonderful Trainwreck. This is the best film Apatow
has yet made, successfully marrying small character moments with huge laughs
and bringing Schumer’s acerbic brand of comedy to the screen in a way that stays
true to both their styles.

After the
screening, it was off to the famous Tavern on the Green, which you may remember
from Ghostbusters, for the
afterparty. It was everything you would expect from a big, Hollywood-style
event. The booze flowed freely, the food never stopped coming, and famous faces
drifted in and out of every room. Belly up to the bar and there is Ezra Miller.
Head into the back room to find ?uestlove and Julia Stiles hanging out
together. In one corner, Lebron James holds court, and in another, Apatow
graciously accepts his due praise. At the center of it all is Schumer.

I spend pretty
much all day every day thinking about films, watching films, analyzing films,
and just generally projecting film reels in the cinema of my mind. I do not get
out of my head a lot. But on this occasion, it was nice to suit up, get down,
and gush like any other fan. I got stuck behind Colin Quinn by the food line. I
got a picture with Tilda Swinton. I fist bumped Dave Attel. It was just cool.
Nothing more, nothing less.

Cartel Land

After a day of
recovery – an open bar will often necessitate such – we headed back out to the
theater, this time the IFC Center, for an altogether different experience. Cartel Land is equal parts enthralling
and infuriating. Whether or not you think the War on Drugs is worth fighting,
we should all be able to agree we are not winning that particular battle, not
on either side of the U.S.-Mexico border.

Heineman’s film
looks at two groups of vigilantes – American yahoos who fancy themselves
cowboys in the Wild West and Mexican townspeople trying to take back their
cities from the cartels. Heineman, who also served as one of the film’s cameramen,
takes us directly inside the battle, going on raids, enduring shootouts, and
witnessing horrifying crimes and tragedies. The most terrifying thing might be
the web the cartels spin through daily life in Mexico as there does not seem to
be any way to dismantle it, and it catches the innocent and guilty alike.

The director is
knowledgeable, passionate, and dedicated to exposing the corruption of a nation
seemingly overrun by drug lords. In an illuminating question-and-answer session,
Heineman made his intentions clear. Change will only come when enough people
get tired of the way things are and fight to fix the system. His hope is to
galvanize a movement, and Cartel Land
is certainly a galvanizing film.

Epilogue

Lots more to
come – hopefully in a timely manner. Just look at what is out this week alone: Ant Man; Stanford Prison Experiment; The
Look of Silence; Irrational Man; Mr. Holmes; and of course, Trainwreck. I guess what I am saying is:
I will see you at the movies.